Coke oven door handling machine



Jan. 3, 1939. M. H. MCEWAN 2,142,451

COKE OVEN DOOR HANDLING MACHINE F iled Feb. 26, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet lFig. 1.

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Jab. 3, 1939. M. H. MCEWAN COKE OVEN DOOR HANDLING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 26, 1938 Fig. 2.

Jan. 3, 1939.

M.- H. M EWAN COKE OVEN DOOR HANDLING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledFeb. 26, 1938 MIME || I. 1 I11 F E I m I mn gflwll. 771 dam-m mwigww, i

Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COKE OVEN DOORHANDLING MACHINE Application February 26, 1938, Serial No. 192,830 InGreat Britain March 10, 1937 9 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in coke-oven door handlingmachines, which are employed for removing and replacing the heavy doorswhich close the, ends of horizontal cokeovens.

In the conventional method of removing a coke-oven door prior todischarging coke from .the oven, the door locking devices are firstreleased and a hook member on the headstock of the door handling machineis then engaged with a cooperating lip on the door, the hook member israised slightly to lift the door off its seating in the oven, and theheadstock is then drawn back to withdraw the door from the oven, afterwhich the headstock with the door supported thereon is removed to aposition out of the path of the coke. In replacing the door after anoven has been discharged, the above sequence of operations is reversed.

Hitherto, the engagement of the hook with the door, the lifting of thedoor off its seating, the subsequent lowering of the door into positionon its seating after discharge, and the dis-engagement of the hook fromthe door, have all been effected by manually operated mechanism on theheadstock of the door handling machine. The present invention providesan arrangement by means of which this sequence of operations can beeffected in a large measure automatically, so that operating time iseconomized, and the exertion required on the part of the operator isconsiderably reduced.

According to the present invention, in a cokeoven door handling machinethe door-engaging hook is pivoted about a horizontal axis on the movableheadstock of the machine and is connected to a linkage on the headstock,the extent of movement of the linkage being limited by a movable stopmember under the control of the operator, means being provided operatingon the linkage whereby movement of the headstock towards the door to beremoved first raises the hook into engagement with the door and thenraises the door by the requisite amount off its seating, whereupon thelinkage coacts with the stop memher to hold the hook and door until thelatter is returned to the oven. According to the present invention also,the said movable stop member is movable to a position in which theconstraint on the linkage is removed, whereby the door is lowered on toits seating and the hook is disengaged from the door.

The invention also comprises a coke-oven door handling machine includinga hook arm pivoted horizontally on the movable headstock of the machinehaving at one end a door-engaging hook, a linkage including two armsconnected by a joint, one end of which linkage is pivoted to the end ofthe hook arm remote from the hook, and the other end of the linkagebeing pivoted to the headstock, a movable stop member coacting with andlimiting the movement of the joint of the linkage, which stop member canbe fixed in a predetermined position and means actuated by the motion ofthe headstock operating on the linkage to raise the hook'into engagementwith the door and to raise the door off its seating.

According to a further feature of the invention the door is lowered onto its seating under the restraint of a dash-pot or similaruni-directional restraining device.

The method of setting the hook and linkage mechanism in the appropriateposition before the removal of a door also forms part of the presentinvention and is fully described hereina er.

A device which is known per so can also be incorporated in the machine,by means of which device the upward movement of the hook-arm intoengagement with the door raises the latchbars of the door from out ofengagement with the co-operating members on the door-frame, so that theoperator is relieved of this duty also. The device will be described indetail hereinafter.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which illustrate a door-operating machine embodying apreferred form of the present invention, but it will be understood thatthe invention is not limited to the precise details of the arrangementnow to be described.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine showing the position of thehook before engaging the door,

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the hook engaged with the door andthe door lifted off its seating,

Figure 3 is a front view of the device as seen from the coke-ovenbattery,

Figure 4 is a part-sectional plan view of Figure 1,

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating the disposition of thelinkage mechanism at various stages in the operation of the device, and

Figure 8 is a detail, showing diagrammatically the action of thelatch-lifting mechanism on the latch-bar of a door.

The present invention may be applied to the door handling machines onboth the pusher and coke sides of a coke-oven battery, and may beapplied to any machine incorporating a travelling headstock by means ofwhich the oven door is engaged and is withdrawn and replaced in adirection perpendicular to the face of the oven battery.

The machine illustrated in the accompanying drawings has a travellingheadstock I, suspended from a carriage 2 movable on rails on theframework of the machine. For the purposes of the present descriptionthe headstock and carriage, which form a single unit, will hereinafterbe referred to as the headstock. The headstock I is advanced andretracted by the conventional rack and pinion mechanism 3 customarilyemployed on this type of machine. On the headstock is ahorizontally-pivoted bell-crank hook arm, the outer end of which armcarries the usual hook 4 for engaging the door. The pivot 5 for the hookarm passes through the bend of the arm, and the other end of the hookarm is connected at 6 to the lower end of a jointed pair of arms I, 8,which constitutes the linkage referred to above. In the practicalembodiment, two sets of linkage arms I, 8, are provided, one on eachside of the hook arm, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The arms I and 8 arepivoted on a pin 9 which joins the two linkages. Both sets of linkagearms move together, and in the following description will be referred toas the linkage. The upper ends of the arms 8 are pivoted at to on theheadstock 2.

The pin 9 forming the joint between the two arms of the linkage moves ina slot, shaped as shown, in the movable stop member I I on the end of ahand-operated control lever I2 pivoted at I3 on the headstock. Thecontrol lever I2 moves over a quadrant I 4 and has a locking catchwhereby the lever I2 may be locked in a predetermined position B on thequadrant I 4, for a purpose hereinafter described. The extent ofmovement of the pin 9 (and consequently of the linkage arms I and 8) islimited by the stop member II and is accordingly determined by theposition of the control lever I2.

The pin 9 is connected by a chain I5 to the longer arm of a lever I6which is pivoted on the fixed framework of the machine. The shorter armof the lever I5 is connected by a chain II to the travelling headstockas shown in Figures 1 and 2.

A dash-pot device I8, or like uni-directional damping device, is mountedon the headstock. The movable portion of the dash-pot I8 is connected atI9 to the linkage end of the hook arm (as shown in Figures 1 and 2). Thedash-pot, (which is preferably of the oil-filled variety, and isprovided with an oil reservoir I8a) is arranged to permit the freeupward movement of the hook into engagement with the coke-oven door, butto restrain the downward movement of the hook when the door is beinglowered on to its seating.

Before the removal of a coke-oven door the headstock I is in theretracted position, and the component parts take up the position shownin Figure 5, with the hook 4 lowered, and the linkage arms I, 8, at anangle, with the pin 9 at the lefthand end of the slot in the stop memberI I. The control lever I2 is locked in position B on the quadrant I4.The headstock is then moved slowly forward towards the oven door whichis to be re- -moved. The disposition of the components when theheadstock is approaching the end of its forward travel is shown inFigure 1. At this point the chains I5 and I! become taut and the effectof further inward movement of the headstock is to move the shorter endof the lever I6 to the left, the longer end moving to the right, so thatthe chain I5 draws the pin 9 and the linkage arms I, 8, back to theposition shown in Figure 2. The movement of the linkage arms to the inline" position of Figure 2 first raises the hook 4 into engagement withthe corresponding hook on the oven door, and then lifts the door. Thedirection of approach of the book 4 to the hook 20'is shown by the arrow2| in Figure 5, but the disposition and proportions of the linkage arms,and the ratio of the long and short arms of the lever I6, are such thatover the last part of the inward travel of the headstock the hook 4 israised practically vertically and lifts the door by the appropriatesmall amount off its seating in the oven.

The inward movement of the headstock causes the pin 9 to move to theopposite end of the slot in the stop member II as shown in Figure 2,and, as stated above, the arrangement is such that in this position thelinkage arms I, 8, are directly in line, or just past dead centre, Asshown in Figure 6, the weight of the door acting through the hook arm onthe pivot 6 sets up a couple on the linkage I, 8, tending to force thepin 9 in the direction of the arrow 22, so that the weight of the doorpresses the pin 9 against the right-hand side of the slot in the stopmember II, which latter is held in the position shown, since the controllever I2 is locked in position B on the quadrant I4. Hence the hook withthe door thereon is held securely in the raised position by the weightof the door itself.

The headstock I, with the oven door supported thereon, is then drawnbackwards, and can be moved aside for cleaning or adjustment while thecoke is being discharged from the oven.

When it is desired to replace the door in the oven, the headstock I withthe door supported thereon is moved inwards until the door is inposition in the mouth of the oven.

The operator then releases the catch on the control lever I2 and movesthe lever I2 (or allows it to move of its own accord under the thrustimparted by the pin 9) towards the position C on the quadrant I4,whereby the stop member II ismoved to the right of its position inFigures 1, 2 and 5. The pin 9 is now free to move along the slot in thestop member towards its final position shown in Figure '7. The door islowered gently on to its seating under the restraint of the dash-potmechanism I8 on the hook arm, the hook 4 finally falling clear of thedoor to the position shown in Figure 7. In this position the linkagearms I, 8, are again in an inclined position on the opposite side of thecentral (in line) position of Figure 6. The headstock is then finallywithdrawn.

To re-set the mechanism before removing another door, the control leverI2 is moved to the position A on the quadrant I4. Movement of the leverI2 to position A causes the stop member II to engage the pin 9 and movethe pin and the linkage arms "I, 8, back to the position of Figures 1and 5, after which the control lever is brought back and locked in theposition B. The machine is then in readiness for engagement with anotherdoor.

The mechanism for lifting the latch-bars of the doors is shown inFigures 1, 2, 4 and 8. It is known to provide mechanism of this type inother door handling machines in which the hook 4 is not actuatedautomatically. A verticallymovable latch-bar striker 23 is attached by apair of parallelr-motion arms 24 to the headstock 2.

A projecting portion 25 on the'arm 26 carrying the hook 4 is arranged toengage the lower end of the striker 23 when the hook 4 is raised. Whenthe hook 4 is nearly in position below the cooperating portion 20 on thedoor, the striker 23 has moved to a position below the latch-bar 21, andas the hook rises to lift the door, the striker 23 rises simultaneouslyand turns the latch-bar 21 to the position 21a (Figure 8) so freeing thelatch-bar from the hooks 28 on the door-frame. The upper and lowerlatch-bars of the door are interconnected by the rod 29 (Figure 8) sothat the lower latch is released. at the same time.

By means of the present invention the operator is relieved of the dutyof engaging and disengaging the lifting hook with the door, and of theeffort required for raising the door, both of which functions are nowperformed by the motive power provided for the travelling headstock. Ifthe latch-lifting mechanism described is incorporated in the machine,the operator is also relieved of the duty of disengaging the latchbarsfrom their hooks.

What I claim is:

1. Coke-oven door handling machine, comprising in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook arm pivoted about a horizontal axis onsaid headstock, a hook at the end of said hook arm, a linkage connectingsaid hook arm to said headstock, a movable stop member controlled by theoperator co-acting with and limiting the extent of movement of saidlinkage, means actuated by the movement of said headstock towards thedoor operating on said linkage to raise said hook into engagement withthe door and raise the door off its seating, said stop member in oneposition imposing a restraint on said linkage to hold the hook and doorin the raised position, and said stop member being movable to a positionin which the restraint on the linkage is removed whereby the door islowered on to its seating and the hook is disengaged from the door.

2. Coke-oven door handling machine, comprising in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook arm pivoted about a horizontal axis onsaid headstock, a door-engaging hook at one end of said hook arm, alinkage comprising two arms connected by a joint, one end of whichlinkage is pivoted to the end of said hook arm remote from the hook, andthe other end of the linkage is pivoted to the headstock, a movable stopmember controlled by the operator co-acting with and limiting themovement of the joint of the linkage, which stop member can be locked ina predetermined position, a lever having unequal arms pivoted on a fixedportion of the machine, a flex ble but non-extensible connection betweensaid joint of the linkage and the end of the longer arm of said lever,and a similar connection between the end of the shorter arm of saidlever and said movable headstock.

3. Coke-oven door handling machine, comprising in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook arm pivoted about a horizontal aids onsaid headstock, a door-engaging hook at one end of said hook arm, alinkage comprising two arms connected by a joint, one end of whichlinkage is pivoted to the end of said hook arm remote from the hook, andthe other end of the linkage is pivoted to the headstock, a movable stopmember controlled by the operator coacting with and limiting themovement of the joint of the linkage, which stop member can be locked ina predetermined position, means actuated by the movement of theheadstock towards the door operating on said linkage to raise said hookinto engagement with the door and lift the door, and dash-pot mechanismconnected to said hook arm, operating to control the lowering of thehook with the door supported thereon.

4. Coke-oven door handling machine for withdrawing a door from, andreplacing the door in coke-oven, comprising in combination a. headstockon the machine movable towards and away from the oven door, a hook-armpivoted about a horizontal axis on said headstock, a door-engaging hookat the end of said hook-arm, a linkage connecting said hook-arm to saidheadstock, a movable stop member controlled by the operator co-actlngwith and limiting the extent of movement of said linkage, means actuatedby the movement of said headstock towards the door operating on saidlinkage to raise said doorengaging hook into engagement with the doorand raise the door off its seating, said stop member in one positionimposing a restraint on said linkage to hold the hook and door in theraised position, said stop member being movable to a position in whichthe restraint on the linkage is removed whereby the door is lowered onto its seating and the hook is disengaged from the door, and aunidirectional damping device associated with said hook-arm forregulating the lowering of the door on to its seating.

5. Coke-oven door handling machine, comprising in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook-arm pivoted about a horizontal axis onsaid headstock, a door-engaging hook at one end of said hook-arm, alinkage comprising two arms connected by a joint, one end of whichlinkage is pivoted to the end of said hook-arm remote from the hook,whilst the other end of said linkage is pivoted to the headstock, acontrol lever pivoted on the headstock and having at one end a slot inwhich the joint of said linkage is free to move, which control lever canbe locked in a predetermined position, and means actuated by themovement of the headstock towards the door operating on said linkage todepress the end of said hook-arm remote from the hook and raise the hookinto engagement with the door and raise the door off its seating, thejoint of said linkage being thereupon restrained against furthermovement by the slot in the control lever.

6. Coke-oven door handling machine as claimed in claim 5 in which thesaid predetermined position in which the control lever can be locked isan intermediate position and the control lever can move to each side ofsaid predetermined position.

7.'Coke-oven door handling machine, including in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook-arm pivoted about a horizontal axis onsaid headstock, a door-engaging hook at one end of said hook-arm whichhook prior to the engagement of the door is in a lowered position, alinkage comprising twoarms connected by a joint, one end of whichlinkage is pivoted to the end of the hook-arm remote from the hook andthe other end of the linkage is pivoted on the headstock, the arms ofthe linkage in the aforesaid position of the hook being inclined one tothe other, a movable stop member containing a slot, which stop membercan be locked in a predetermined intermediate position, the joint ofsaid linkage working in said slot and in the aforesaid position of thelinkage being at one end of the slot, means actuated by the movement ofthe headstock towards the door operating on said linkage to move thejoint of the linkage to the other end of the slot, raise the hook intoengagement with the door and raise the door off its seating, the doorbeing held supported on the hook by the restraint of the stop member onthe linkage, means to release said stopmember to remove the restraint onthe linkage and lower the door on to its seating whereby the arms of thelinkage assume an inclination one to the other opposite to their initialinclination, and a unidirectional damping device associated with saidhook-arm for regulating the lowering of the door on to its seating.

8. Coke-oven door handling machine as claimedv in claim '7, in which themechanism is re-set by operating the said movable stop member todisplace the linkage through. the in line position to the inclinedposition which it originally occupied.

9. Coke-oven door handling machine, comprising in combination a movableheadstock on the machine, a hook arm pivoted about a horizontal axis onsaid headstock, a door-engaging hook at one end of said hook arm, alinkage comprising two arms connected by a joint, one end of whichlinkage is pivoted to the end of said hook arm remote from the hook, andthe other end of the linkage is pivoted to the headstock, a movable stopmember controlled by the operator co-acting with and limiting themovement of the joint of the linkage, which stop member can be locked ina predetermined position, means actuated by the movement of theheadstock towards the door operating on the linkage to raise the hookinto engagement with the door and lift the door, the door being heldsupported on the hook by the restraint exercised by the stop member onsaid linkage, the door being lowered on to its seating by removal of thesaid restraint, damping means to control the lowering of the door on toits seating, a vertically-movable striker on the headstock adapted toengage the latching means of the door and a projection on said hook armcontacting with the lower end of said striker as the hook is raised.

MATTHEW HAMILTON MCEWAN.

